Wanda Sykes, Mike Epps, and Kim Fields on the working class roots of The Upshaws
TV Features Wanda Sykes
There’s a great tradition of people just scraping by in sitcoms. Sanford & Son were barely making it. Roseanne was living paycheck to paycheck on-screen, and both iterations of One Day At A Time were about families forced to deal with new, harsh economic realities. That tradition continues with The Upshaws, which finds Mike Epps cast as Bennie, a blue-collar mechanic with a complicated family played in part by Wanda Sykes and Kim Fields. It’s a real murderer’s row of comedians, and the show—created by Epps and Sykes—uses their straightforward deliveries and tell-it-like-it-is nature to its advantage.
The A.V. Club sat down with Sykes, Epps, and Fields to talk about the show’s genesis, ancestors, and quest for truth.
The Upshaws is available now on Netflix.
1 Comment
Nobody has to go as far back as Sanford & Son, Good Times, or The Jeffersons to find working class comedies that might compare to this. It’s like Roc, Soul Food (the TV show), and 227 never existed. I’d be willing to bet all the folks in that video have seen ‘em.It makes me wonder if critics and reviewers are still comparing new comedies with a female lead to I Love Lucy. Why bring up a show with the name of a racist like RB in an article about a show featuring a Black working class family? IIRC, Alice was about working class people, and so was Brett Butler’s Grace Under Fire. Those were both award-winning shows, too.When The Wonder Years reboot comes out, I hope there will be comparisons to Everybody Hates Chris. People reading about TV shows in 2021 shouldn’t be getting the impression that aside from Cosby-related fare nothing with a predominately Black cast or similar themes has been aired since the ‘70s. That’s just not true.